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Henry, who has a full set of coaching badges, leaves Sky with immediate effect but will take his time choosing the right managerial role.

He has already had an offer from the UK and two from abroad. But there are sure to be more now he has committed himself to management rather than taking the easier pundit option.

Henry said: ‘I have decided I must leave Sky to spend more time on the pitch and concentrate on the journey to achieving my goal.’

Sky Sports managing director Barney Francis, who faced strong criticism for paying Henry so much, said: ‘We’ve loved having him as part of our coverage. He has helped take our viewers closer to the game. But we’ve always known he has a real passion for coaching.’

Former England captain John Terry, 37, and recently released by Championship side Aston Villa, is a potential replacement for Henry.

Henry had been with Sky since 2015 and his deal was not due to expire until the end of 2010

Absent from the MUTV team covering Manchester United’s pre-season US tour is their flag-waving pundit Paddy Crerand. This follows 79-year-old Crerand’s drink-driving ban for 22 months received in May.

Crerand pulled out of a side road and ploughed into another car. When asked to spell his name, the former United player told the officer at the scene to ‘f*** off’.

Basketball’s chronic problems in the UK are laid bare in letters sent to minister for sport Tracey Crouch by the seven independent directors who resigned en masse from British Basketball last week.

One read: ‘I have never encountered the levels of intransigence, duplicity, unwillingness to compromise and bullying shown by the Home Country Associations.

'I still cannot fathom why the HCA are so hell-bent on this path of destruction. It is a matter of self-interest, land grab and ego that is putting the sport in peril.’

The Home Country leaders accused of kyboshing any chance of a unified strategy for British Basketball are English chair Clare Wardle, company secretary of Coca-Cola, and Scottish chair David Davies, who had a troubled time as QPR’s CEO.

UK basketball's issues have been laid bare in letters sent to minister for sport Tracey Crouch

FA Chief Executive Martin Glenn and communications head Rob Sullivan gave up their seats on the England charter flight home from the World Cup so all the tracksuit staff could be accommodated.

The pair have a date on Wednesday in front of the DCMS select committee to discuss the sale of Wembley.

FA chief executive Martin Glenn and communications head Rob Sullivan gave up their seats on England's charter flight home (Gareth Southgate pictured departing the plane in Birmingham)

Stadium fees shocker

Following a World Cup in which every Russian stadium staged its games with impressive efficiency, the never-ending fuss around the doomed London Stadium continues.

A freedom of information request has revealed the publicly funded London Legacy Development Corporation have been paying corporate restructuring officer Alan Fort £10,000 a week since July 2017 to reduce losses and develop a new commercial strategy.

Fort, whose massive fees are a discount on his usual £4,000-a-day rate, has been mainly responsible for the hiring of another consultancy, Pragma, to produce a ‘vision for the stadium’, plus market research, at a cost of £77,000.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has promised to take control of the London Stadium after a report last December found the stadium operators E20 were losing more than £20million a year

This ridiculous spend follows London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s promise to take control after a report last December found stadium operators E20 were losing more than £20m a year - almost 10 times more than West Ham are paying annually as the anchor tenants.

An LLDC spokesman said: ‘The fees reflect Alan Fort’s experience in turning around struggling businesses and the current market rate.’